
Fable the Blade |

I was asked a question and would like to get some advice on this. Basic character sword and shield type, Has his primary hand cut off and he starts using his off hand as his main hand to fight with. What would be the penalties be to attack with his off hand? (rules and where to find them would be very helpful too).
Thank you for any help.

Ravingdork |

Yep, handedness only comes into play when trying to benefit from the bonus attacks from two-weapon fighting.
If you only ever attack with one weapon, no penalties, regardless of which hand you use.
Even if you attack with multiple weapons, you still don't have to worry about it if you don't claim any additional attacks.
For example, a 10th-level fighter has a base attack bonus of +10/+5, granting him two attacks. If he had a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other, he could do any of the following as a full attack action without penalty.
Attack with the sword twice.
Attack with the dagger twice.
Attack with each weapon once.
It doesn't matter which hand are weapons are in. Some weapons, such as armor spikes, don't even need to be held in hand (though they follow all other rules as held weapons, except where specifically noted).
Now, if said fighter wanted to make three attacks with his two weapons, he would then have to worry about which weapon was in his offhand (which could be his left, his right, or even a weapon not held in a hand as described above), and the penalties of two-weapon fighting.
The fighter can even switch hiss off-hand in between actions. For example, the above fighter could make three attacks with his sword and dagger in one round (in which case the dagger is the offhand), and make three attacks with his sword and armor spikes in the next round (in this case, since both are one-handed weapons, it doesn't much matter which he declares as his offhand--at least not until he rolls damage). Oddly enough, off-hand really has nothing to do with hands at all, but more about the weapons themselves.
I hope that helps.